1926-S Nickel Altered Mint Mark Or Poor Die Preparation?

Not an expert in the series - but does indeed appear to be very suspicious to me.

Also - what's up with the apparent lip ring just below the nose on the obverse photo?

Sorry, but I do not have access to an imaging microscope. I will try to post some angle pix with different lighting. I would assume that anyone attempting to alter something as small as this mint mark would have access to high resolution imaging and tools to match. With my 40x loup some disturbances in the metal are visible but they do not suggest the remains of a D. The most obvious marks to me are the "scuffing" marks along the rim to the left and right of the mint mark. The only other area that appears unusual is the sunken area where the top of the S should be. In my collecting experience I have learned that a small amount of grease that might remain in difficult to clean areas can distort or prevent accurate striking of an otherwise well prepared die. The "nose ring" visible in the photo is anyone's guess. It has no depth and does not appear to be tooled. There are no abrasions or other scratches in that area. The dark ring around it is bluish in color. I will post some new images ASAP. Thanks for everyone's responses.

Looks okay to me based on the second closeup.

Well here is the best I can do with the resources at hand. The more I look at these pix and the coin in hand with the 40x loup, the more convinced I am that its been altered.

thq: Do you think the coin itself is counterfeit?

Dodgy at best .altered around the MM .

It looks counterfeit to me, but IMO it's worth sending to ANACS just to find out. I'm wondering whether the S could have been hammered in to a 1926-P, followed by some careful metal relief to make it stand out. I looked at a lot of counterfeits online and didn't see any that had an S as crude as this.

Thanks to everyone who posted a reply. I decided to return the coin to the seller for a refund. Depending on what the seller decides to do with it I suppose it may resurface in the market again. It could be used as an educational tool to help other collectors but that decision is in the seller's hands.